Usenet backlash continues, Comcast and RCN discontinue service

DSLReports reported this week that Comcast is getting out of the Usenet business. The ISP will stop its Usenet offering by the end of October. New users won't have access to Comcast's Usenet anymore starting right about now. The smaller, regional cable provider RCN also cut off its Usenet service without any warning this week, according to DSLReports.

Comcast and RCN are not the only ISPs saying good-bye to Usenet. Verizon, Time Warner Cable and Sprint all cut down on their offerings this summer after New York's State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had started a campaign against child porn in newsgroups. Comcast also uses the child porn argument to explain its decision, but it's a little more honest than other ISPs by admitting that there are other reasons at play as well. From the company's statement:

"This decision is in alignment with other Internet Service Providers that have recently terminated their Newsgroups service due to the declining popularity of Newsgroups as customers chose other methods, such as RSS feeds and web browsing to access information."